Many centuries ago, these ruins were a place of serenity and joy. One of man's most exceptional achievements, it's infrastructure stretching from beneath the surface to the clouds themselves. People met, relationships formed, and families were made within these walls, and the streets were littered by the masses, cheering and smiling, part of a perfectly peaceful society. A city conjoined and built under both the Terran Federation, and the United republics of Earth. It didn't take long for things to go south when tension arose between the two superpowers, and when war broke loose, this city, in particular, became a battlefield, with each opposing side fighting over control for it.
This city is Nova. By the time the wars had ended, it had been overtaken time and time again, ending up in the hands of the Federation as they accelerated their violent means to assert dominance across the planet, but to no avail. The planet laid in ruin after the great wars, and the material they had used to fuel their technology had turned out to be a vicious poison, now taken root in the soil of our very world. Forced to work alongside one another, the Federation and the URE turned Nova and many other cities into bases of operation, with factories producing materials, tools, and Machines that would one day contribute to the revival of mankind.
The Terran Federation left Earth, opting to search for a new world that would carry mankind's future, and the URE stayed behind to finish their own half of the work, eventually launching the ARKs into orbit so they one day could reseed our dying planet. And with that, Nova, alongside the rest of man's ruins, was left behind to dwindle and fall apart with time. And now, centuries later, after the ARKs had made landfall, and despite its dismal fate, the Colony ship's run to plant a new seed for mankind across the galaxy, Nova remains one of the last standing bastions of the old world. Nearly all other remnants had been knocked down by the ARKs, as they tried to cleanse the Earth of mankind's old mistakes. Unfortunately, we can't run from our past forever.
Nova's protective barrier remained active, and it was able to shield the buildings within from the cleansing of the ARKs, and the city is now an overgrown dystopia, ruled by the wilds. Flora lines the skyscrapers, the military bases have turned into fields in which the herbivores thrive and grace and the endless canyons of buildings become nesting areas for a multitude of prehistoric species. Yet, a majority of these ruins remain cold and empty, a place where no biological life can thrive, except for a certain group of entities that are feared by both human life and animal life in the reborn world.
The remnants of the URE's techno-organic police and military force. Ruthless machines whose code and protocols have been lost to time, unrecoverable, and in no shape to be helped and fixed. Packs of defense units roam the city streets, and in the upper sectors of the city amongst the tallest buildings, drones patrol the skies, searching for anything that may be considered a threat by the derelict system. They are led by the feared Juggernauts, one of the URE's less prominent, but stronger AI combatants. Large tek centaurs, standing tall and mighty on their horse-like legs, towering over other machines.
In the darker depths of Nova, a small drone flew, blending in with the derelict machines that crawled in its surroundings. Had their systems not been as deteriorated as they were, they would've known that this drone was not one of their own. The Federation scout scanned its surroundings as it soared between the buildings of the city, with a direct feed of information being sent back to a console back at the base of operations set up by the Terran federation. Suddenly, a shriek was picked up by the scout, and relatively close to it too. A mechanical but guttural scream that shattered the mumbling of the various other AIs that roamed the city. The scout's cover had been blown, by a Juggernaut.
They were not surprised. From what information they had gathered so far, they had become well aware that the Juggernauts were a tad bit more intelligent than their fellow ancient AI, seeing as their systems had not fallen apart as much as that of the defense units, or the enforcers. The scout turned in the blink of an eye, before bolting in the direction it had come from before even spotting where its attacker would come from. Only a second or three into its futile escape could one hear the thundering footsteps and clawing at metal as a heavy entity took chase after the drone. As it made a turn around one of the skyscrapers, it caught a glimpse of the pursuer. A Juggernaut indeed, as it galloped across the side of the building, at a perfect ninety-degree angle. To make its turn after the scout, it dug its clawed hands into a corner before swinging itself over and continuing its chase after the drone, occasionally leaving behind small craters in the walls as it jumped from structure to structure.
The drone failed to escape as it attempted to gain further height, as the Juggernaut lept from one of the buildings, and with the sharp metallic blade that sprung from its wrist, it impaled the scout, smashing itself and the drone into a wall in which it latched onto with its 4 legs, inspecting the machine it had just put a massive hole through. As the blue glowing lights of the scout flickered and died, so did the live feed.
The console flickered and flickered, the last image burnt into the now static screen was the unhinged face of the techno-organic monster that had taken out the drone. It was quite the scare when the Juggernaut pursued the drone, and it came as an intense shock to the man steering it when it was violently impaled mid-air. The man had to take a deep breath to calm his racing heart down, and it took him a solid moment before he was able to collect himself again.
"And that is what we've been dealing with." The man clad in tek-tier tactical military gear said, as he turned away and leaned against the console to face his company.
The singular person who stood there nodded, humming to himself as he ran his hand through his wavy but short brown hair. It took him a moment before he was able to form his response to the footage he had just witnessed. "I'm not following on one thing though. Why do you want survivors to take care of these 'things' that are plaguing your ruins of a city. I mean you guys got your fancy and magical gear that lets you fly and level an entire settlement at the push of a button. How hard can it be for you guys to do it yourselves."
"Listen, Mister Morrington. We left the Colony ship and returned home with half the number of people we were when we left this planet centuries ago. We value the lives of each member of the Federation, and we're the last remnant of the original human race. We aren't like you guys, we aren't reborn clones of our past selves."
"So you're implying that the reason you're hiring survivors to do dirty work for you in Nova is... Because we're more expendable?" Chase snidely remarked whilst he upheld a sarcastic tone in his voice.
The man let out a short chuckle. "Depends on how you look at it. Yes, what you say is technically true, but remember, we're not asking you to clear out all of these AI for us. We already know how that would end- We're doing that job ourselves."
"Well, are you going to tell me what my actual mission is then or are you gonna drag this out another minute?"
A deep inhale and a drawn-out sigh. "Our scouts have been detecting traces of something that shouldn't be in there. We've seen footprints, fingerprints, and discarded tools- And they don't belong to any of us. We think there are survivors in there, and we need someone to get in there and tell them to fuck off."
The Federation member mumbled as he turned around to the console and pulled image files from folders, enlarging them so Chase could have a closer look at them. Pointing at one image that displayed what appeared to be the silhouette of a group of people across the wall of a building, he continued.
"The thing is, they've been around for a while, and seem content on staying too. They've been downing machines and salvaging them, but for what, we don't know yet."
"Salvaging I know all about. I lead a scavenger group for a while but left a few months back to help out the people over in The Great Settlement. We used to salvage scrap and ancient metal from ruins to use for armor and weapons."
"And that is probably what these guys are doing too... But salvaging tek metal and salvaging AI and techno-organic mass are quite different things. Again, we need a survivor to go in there and tell them to leave. Our own resources have already been spent, with half of us fighting to retake more sections of the city, and the rest of us trying to rebuild the parts we do have to a more... liveable state for our folks."
"Ok... Ok. Understandable. Now what's in it for me? I want to know what I'll be risking my life for, you guys did mention a hefty price upon completion in those leaflets you left in The Great Settlement."
"Right. Usually, we would treat this as any other commission, but seeing as valuta and currencies haven't returned a mainstay in this world yet, money is off the table."
Chase smirked, walking over to the tek console the member of the Federation leaned on, and in doing so, he exited the direct sunlight that shone upon him from the bright midday sky above, taking rest in the shade that the military canopy provided for the tek hardware and various other furniture they had scattered around in the area.
"How about you guys pay me in some of that fancy future gear you guys got? My old scrap gear could use a replacement." The survivor suggested, gently hitting his fist against his slightly rusty and torn chest piece.
"Absolutely not." The man in tek responded, seeing that Chase was eyeing the light but tactical tek gear he was wearing, his eyes eventually coming to rest on the tek firearm holstered on his hip.
Chase's cheeky smirk was immediately wiped away, as he let out a disappointed "God dangit."
"All that has to do with tek is off the table. The consequence of our technology ending up in the wrong hands is too dire to risk."
"So the feds are gate-keeping their tek."
"Yes."
"Fuck."
"However," The man continued. "We can offer you property. Some land here and around Nova, once we got things up and running on our end."
Chase seemed to quiet down hearing this, his facial expression going blank as he seemed tuned into what he was being told. Admittedly, finding a place to settle down had been one of his plans for the longest time now. He had been leading his group of scavengers for half a decade on their ARK of origin before they went on to become a mercenary group for hire, come the day of reseed. He had risked his life many times at the side of his men who he had already parted ways with a few months ago when he had made the decision to join acquaintances on a mission to space. And now, he was spending the majority of the free time he had on his hands to figure out what he wants to do for the rest of his life. He realized in this moment, that this could be a significant opportunity for him.
"A steady source of sustenance, a safe place to live, to work... We can offer you an easy transition back to a more modern way of living. A sense of society. When in human history did you say you were from again?"
"The nineteen-eighties..." He mumbled in response.
The man awkwardly raised his hand and rested it on the back of his neck, rubbing it a bit before letting out a drawn-out and high-pitched "Yyyeeeeeahhh It'll be similar enough I suppose. Welp, no time like the present. You've got what information we can offer you, and beyond that, you're on your own. Figure out what those folks are up to in there and get rid of them." He then said, before walking out into the sunshine and away from the tent at a slow pace, expecting Chase to follow not far behind.
"Wait, so I'm not getting any other help? You guys don't got any maps of the city I could use at the very least?" Chase asked a bit frantically, as he stepped after the man in tek.
"Nope. We ran out."
"You ran out- The fuck's that supposed to mean?!"
After having avoided the question, the man turned around one last time to let his eyes meet Chase's. "Seek me out when you finish the job. The name's Cole. Cole Novak."
Watching the man walk off into a more crowded area of the federation campsite, the survivor is left to his own devices, as he lets out a short sigh, raising his hands and resting them on his hips. "Hopeless, these feds." He shook his head, as the soft rumbling of another living being filled his ears. A few yards away from where he stood, rested his companion in the cold shade of the skyscrapers that surrounded them, amongst tall stalks of grass and bushes. A deep and dark green-scaled Baryonyx, with a row of yellow tinted stripes going down along its back, from its neck to the end of its tail. It raised its head up from the ground, glaring in its owner's direction whilst softly gnawing and chewing on the mouthpiece attached to the saddle.
"It's just you and me then, Barry."
As he trotted toward his scaly friend, a loud sound that echoed throughout this rather empty part of the city ruin made him stop dead in his tracks to turn around and attempt to identify the source of the noise, before it got louder and more apparent that it came from the skies above. It was hard to see much of the milky blue sky above, as the tall structures and buildings cluttered his view of the clouds above, but from the cracks and spaces between them, he caught glimpse of two fast-moving objects as they raced through the air above him. As the two tek jets disappeared over the city skyline, the survivor calmly sat himself down on the back of his companion, before it raised itself from the ground into an upright stance, and at this moment he began to realize the sheer power these people from the past future held. Dear god, he thought to himself, as he hoped they would forever remain on good terms with survivor-kind.
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In the dark shadow of a colossal structure, Chase took cover by the side of his companion, whom he had to struggle to get silent as their situation grew direr with each second. Their luck had run out after hours of avoiding commotion from the wildlife that resided within the city ruins, and the technological plague that crawled the walls of this unforgiving landmark of the past. Loud footsteps shook the ground not far from them, and the growling and rumbling of a larger theropod than the one Chase had beside him sent a wave of unease that crashed into the survivor and his tame.
Accompanied by the distressed howls of the Tyrannosaurus, were the much more rapid sound of metallic legs hitting the ground. A defense unit? No, too slow, Chase knew that. An enforcer? He sure hoped not, with their teleportation capabilities, he would not stand a chance. Fortunately and unfortunately for the man, it was neither of those that he had encountered, no, he had come upon a Juggernaut, and caught it right as it engaged in a violent exchange of blows with a Tyrannosaur, one that was probably just minding its own business before this ruthless machine had made the decision that it was a fiend.
Keeping his gloved hand on the snout of his Baryonyx, Chase laid low as he observed the fight go down. It didn't last long, and for a moment his heart sank, watching the Juggernaut stow away both of its weapons, the large tek cannon on its left wrist, and the blue glowing blade on its right. And so with ease, the robot used what appendages it had that resembled hands, to grab the large theropod by its jaw, and with a forceful pull- unhinge it, before a mighty blow was delivered to the side of its skull, one where the bloody and gory hand of the Juggernaut emerged from the opposite side.
Sneaking past this robotic adversary would be the most ideal move, despite Chase's experience with fighting one before. He knew that on his own, facing it would be suicide, as even with the help of three others, the Juggernaut he once faced by the side of the Crusader and his acquaintances from The great settlement, they still failed miserably and almost lost their lives to it. But perhaps by the side of a large companion such as the one he had now, he might stand a chance.
For the moment, he considered it a worst-case scenario, but that would come to fruition as before they could even make their move to discreetly flee the scene, the Juggernaut's head snapped in their direction as the Tyrannosaur hit the ground with a loud thud. It was well aware they were present in the surrounding area.
And so that is how Chase and Barry would end up in the sticky situation they found themselves in, amidst a dimly lit clearing between the buildings, surrounded by overgrown streetlights whose spark was outshined by the god rays from the sky above. Hauling himself onto the back of Barry, Chase braced himself for what was about to happen. Droplets flew from the blood-covered arms of the Juggernaut as the blaster sprung out of its left arm, aimed at the two.
At the sight of this, the man kicked his legs to the sides of his ride and pulled at the saddle reins, maneuvering the Baryonyx toward the lifeless body of the unfortunate Tyrannosaur, hoping to use its corpse as cover from the tek cannon fire that he knew was coming his way at any second now. In the nick of time, they were able to position themselves behind cover as glowing projectiles graced them, but to Chase's dismay, the cover did not last long. Soon enough, the projectiles were able to make their way through the carcass of the dinosaur, blood and guts flying everywhere in the process. They didn't have a choice, the survivor realized. Their best bet was truly to charge at the robot and cross their fingers that they may gain the upper hand.
With the rein in one hand, and the other reaching for the firearm he kept strapped over his back, Chase took a deep breath that sank deep into his lungs before he exhaled, jolting the rein and telling Barry to make a run around the corpse and straight at the Juggernaut. He swung his shotgun over his shoulder and grabbed it firmly in both of his hands, cocking the gun before firing a shell at the machine. "Over here!" He shouted as he and Barry bolted around it.
Unsurprisingly, the shell and its many projectiles hit and ricochet off the tek plating that protected the ancient URE robot from harm, barely scraping the surface of its armor. The machine shook its body, before turning around to face its incoming attackers. Barry, knowing what his rider wanted him to do, let his jaw hang open as he charged at the Juggernaut, and as it lept at it, Chase got so up close to the machine that he realized they met eye-to-eye in height despite him riding a rather tall prehistoric animal. This shook him to his core, but at the moment, he couldn't think much of it, cause the next second, he found himself atop his foe, pinned down by the heavy creature.
A cocky smile grew on Chase's face beneath his helmet, seeing as Barry didn't have too much difficulty holding the robot down with its long arms, but the pride was quickly wiped off his face as a heat-emitting blade emerged from the Juggernaut's outstretched right arm, something that immediately set panic into the survivor's soul. "Oh SHIT- Abort, abort!" He screamed when he felt the heat of the blade sear against his leg. It didn't take long for his tame to recognize the danger, as it too felt the heat against its skin and scales, which caused it to leap off in fear of being touched by the blade.
Before he could see it coming, the left arm of the Machine came swinging at him, the massive blaster bashing the survivor off of his ride, and knocking his shotgun out of his hands as he hit the grassy ground, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Laying on the ground, Chase hyperventilated for a moment, trying to catch his breath as above him, the dinosaur and the machine fought it out, Barry biting onto its arm and clamping down hard enough to make it difficult for the machine to escape his grasp.
His vision had gone blurry, his head felt as if it was spinning after the blow he sustained, but as he crawled on the ground, trying to reach for his weapon, trying to reach for anything his hands could wrap around, he noticed something he hadn't thought of before now, something that had flown over his mind as he faced this powerful robotic adversary.
As he reached for his shotgun, Chase was able to grab onto something else, something he couldn't really identify nor recognize before he held it up close to his face, so he could peer at it through his shattered visor. A minor proximity mine.
In the heat of the moment, he failed to think twice about what he was about to do. The only thing that ran through his mind, was if he could throw this small piece of metal precisely enough, it could practically act as a powerful hand grenade. The risk of him and his companion getting harmed didn't cross his mind, nor did the possibility that he would attract more derelict AI to the scene with this move, but it didn't matter. It was now or never. Crawling around in the grass, he turned to the four legs of the Juggernaut, and without hesitation, he flung the proximity mine the same way one would throw a frisbee, letting it fly over and hit the ground between the horse-like legs of the machine.
"Barry, RUN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he tried to carry his own weight in getting off of the ground, but he wasn't even given a second before the faint noise of beeping could be heard from beneath the Juggernaut. The machine curiously bent its upper body to inspect what was happening below it, but as it did, the explosive went off. In the blink of an eye, it was engulfed in upwards flying dirt and pebbles, followed by a gust of fire that spread across the surrounding area, hitting Chase and scorching the back of his armored wear as he curled up into a fetal position.
Deafening ringing filled his ears, blocking out all other noise, and in his blurry vision, he could see Barry recoiling in distress, roaring at the machine as it went up in flames behind the survivor, before looking down at its owner and gently making its way over to him. The Baryonyx put his arm in its mouth, dragging the man away from the burning grass that soon would reach him. The ground shook from the footsteps of both the theropod and the ones of the machine, who Chase only caught a glimpse of as he was being dragged away by his companion. Letting out one last unhinged shriek, the machine fell to the ground, engulfed in fire and flames as dust and dirt fell from the air all around it.
Beneath his helmet, his cheeky smirk returned, as he watched the machine go lifeless, and his scaly friend began sniffing and huffing all over his face whilst it poked around his upper torso with its snout. With a hazy and weak voice, he croaked at his companion, "Thank you, Barry... Thanks...", before reaching an arm up to pat it on the side of its long head.
A moment of peace... For what felt like a long time, the two were left in complete silence, Chase remaining in the grass and listening to the crackling of the fire that emerged from the withered machine. Was this what he would have to deal with, had he met more of those murderous AI? They had been lucky to avoid contact up until now, but if a near-death experience is what he would be served with every encounter, how long would he last out here? The survivor remained in denial, refusing the idea that he could lose his second chance at life to these soulless beings, and in his pride, he hoped that this had only been a worst-case scenario and that the next encounter would go much smoother than this.
Lost in his own thoughts, Chase hadn't noticed that his companion was now hunched down on all four, hissing and growling at something that had emerged from the thicket of the broken city. Another AI, he wondered, without even lifting as much as a finger, but fortunately for him, his pondering was broken rather quickly as a human voice shouted from a handful of yards away.
"Oi!" The deep voice called, accompanied by the sound of metal pieces clicking at the touch of one another. The sound of armor, perhaps a weapon smacking against it? "You alive, over there?"
In a similar fashion as Frankenstein himself, Chase hauled his upper body up into a sitting position as he reached for his belt, recalling that his shotgun was not by his side any longer, making his side arm his best bet for any sort of self-defense. Again, his actions were disrupted when he laid an eye on the man behind the voice, and a wave of relief washed over him.
"Don't we know each other?", he asked the man who stood there, clutching what Chase made out to be a tripod in one hand and a flora-covered sword in the other.
"I think we do. You were on the Nemesis ship when it left for space. The name Bob any recognizable to you?"
Letting out a light sigh, the survivor whose ass was still planted on the ground nodded. "Chase. Chase Mornington." He said as he took Bob's arm which he lent the survivor to get him off the muddy ground.
"Quite the commotion going on back here. I swore I heard the sound of saddle reins being pulled... It's when I heard a loud boom that I figured something else was happening."
"And what's that supposed to mean, big guy?" Chase tilted his head at him, as he delivered a fist bump to the large man's shoulder. Slightly intimidated by Bob, he certainly was. Bob was a large individual, sure, not nearly as large as others who the former mercenary leader had come upon during his past travels, but there was no denying that this square-jawed bloke from the twenty-first century was someone you would not want to make enemies with.
Watching as the man returned the fist bump to his shoulder, with a larger, more muscular hand and arm, Chase's ego was shanked by a rusty knife.
"What are you doing out here anyway? Survivors are prohibited from entering the ruins of this city."
"I was about to ask you the same."
"Well, I, for one, have been hired by the Federation themselves, to seek out and shoo away some group of people who live in this wreck of a place. Told me I'd be paid handsomely if I-"
"Wait, you were hired too?" Bob interrupted, raising an eyebrow which Chase could see through the large eyeholes on his helmet.
Chase stopped up for a moment. As if a few screws had gone loose on their own, he struggled to find words for what felt like a solid minute before he was able to mumble to himself, "They never mentioned anyone else taking the job..."
"Oh, they didn't tell me either, and for good reason too." Bob followed up, reaching over to attach the tripod he held to his toolbelt, beside his now sheathed and tucked-away sword. "Think fast."
Chase scrambled as a piece of rolled-up paper was thrown his way, catching, but fumbling it in his hands before getting a good hold on it. He shook his head slightly, before rolling out the sheet. The stench of rotten flesh suddenly smacked against his mask, causing him to gag and his face to contort into a disgusted expression. The entire piece of paper was covered in dirt, and what had to have been pieces of gut and dried blood.
"The hell is this?"
"A map. Only a few days old." Bob shortly explained. "Found it in a pile of corpses. Survivors. Some of those poor bastards were missing limbs, some were burnt beyond recognition."
So thats where the Federation had spent all their paper-printed maps. Chase's heart sank as he realized that he, nor Bob had been the first to take this job, and they certainly wouldn't be the last if the task at hand remained unfinished.
"Christ-sake... How long have you been out here?"
"Since yesterday. Still on the trail of those bastards, but I think I've lost them. And these maps aren't helping at all."
"You met the targets?" Chase asked as Bob implied he had come in contact with the same group he was on the lookout for.
Bob scoffed to himself, turning around to take in his surroundings as he quietly said, "More like they met me. Came to me in the dead of night, though the darkness would be on their side."
"How were they like?"
"Tribal. Reminded me of some sort of Southern natives, If that makes sense. Depends on when in human history you're from I guess. They wore robes and loincloths, their faces were covered by either cloth or some freaky-looking mask."
"Hm. You'd think people as primitive as that kind would've stood no chance against the bloodthirsty robots in these ruins."
"Oh, don't underestimate them just yet. I almost had a javelin pierce my chest. Wouldn't have seen it coming hadn't I had pretty good eyes for the dark. And trust me, it was sharp as all hell. Their weapons would have no problem going straight through us, or even that Baryonyx you got there."
The sound of this made not only Chase shudder, but even Barry seemed to experience discomfort as Bob waved around with his hands to try to visualize the length of the sharp blade he had almost been impaled by. As if the thought of these vicious men and women weren't bad enough, Chase's soul would be sunk even further as an ear-piercing mechanical shriek erupted from elsewhere in the city ruins, the sound echoing and bouncing between the walls of the skyscrapers, making it impossible to tell if it had come from something nearby, or something far off in the distance.
Even Bob seemed to freeze at the sound, flinching as his head spun around in all directions.
Chase, on the other hand, was cowering up against Barry, recognizing the howl of another Juggernaut. Whatever that sound was, it was one he had heard a solid few times now, during both of his visits to Nova, and so far, he had been able to identify it as a warning call, or a fuming cry of fury. Barry growled and rumbled, fear striking the theropod as it too recognized the noise of a machine akin to the one that had almost taken its life mere minutes ago.
"You hear that? Thats another one of those centaurs."
"And it sounds like it's under attack. But what are our chances that it's just some wildlife coming in contact with it, and not our mysterious group of tek-salvaging cavemen?"
"No clue. Only one way to find out."
Chase secretly hoped that it would be the latter, as already, the true nature of this unforgiving place had fully settled in his body, tensing him up beyond his own control. No breathing techniques he tried at the moment helped his heart rate slow down, and anxiety began to set in. All he wanted was to get out of there as soon as he possibly could, but his promised price was too much for him to just give up on. This was his chance to finally return to a tame lifestyle, one where he wouldn't have to fear for his own life and survival on an hourly basis, one where the possibility of everything in a matter of minutes was almost perfectly erased. Others have adjusted to the rush of having to survive in this new and wild world, hell, some even found it addicting, with Bob as a great example of such a person, someone who didn't fear the unknown. Chase for a while was like this, but his change of heart would come as a slow burner.
Taking a deep breath, he tried his best to collect himself before planting his hands on his Baryonyx again. It took all his mental and physical strength just to reach up to the saddle and hoist himself onto it.
"By the way, what was that tripod thing you were holding for anyway?" He started, trying to strike up a conversation with the large man to distract himself from his own worries.
Although he couldn't directly see it, he could tell from Bob's eyes alone that he was smiling beneath his helmet, his cheeks pushing his eyes up as he gleefully turned around to reveal he was actually carrying a massive firearm on his back, one that resembled a Gatling gun or a mounted minigun from his time, but sleeker, smaller and more compact, fit to be held by a human. The former mercenary was in complete shock at the sight, as he thought that a weapon of that caliber could never in any lifetime be hand-held by a human. Once again, his new life as a survivor had proven him wrong.
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"A bit strange to see a tribe full of clearly skilled warriors be led by a hog like him, ey?"
"Yeah... Yeah no I think I feel the fever dream kicking in."
Whispering to one another, the two men did their best to stay as hidden from plain sight as they possibly could, crouching and slouching up against an overgrown crate of tek material. Time and time again, Chase had to wave his hand to his Barry, to signal it to stay put in the bushes where it remained covered by the thicket, a dozen yards away from where they sat. Getting caught red-handed without a plan as to how they would approach the situation would be the worst that could happen to them, as these people did not seem like folks you'd want to mess around with.
Hours had gone by since they heard the distressed calls of the Juggernaut, and sure enough, it was in fact their target mystery tribe that had been its assailants. The two survivors and the Baryonyx had watched from afar through binoculars, as the men and women clad in hide and cloth skillfully took on the kind of machine that had almost taken Chase's life from him, and with ease at that. They were an acrobatic bunch, their reaction time was peak performance, and their ability to use the environment to their advantage frightened the former mercenary leader. Once they had slit open the organic weak points of the beast, they attached rope to the machine's lifeless body and dragged it away with the help of their large herbivore companions, triceratops and Styracosaurus specifically.
The trail left behind made it easy for the hunters to follow their prey at a relatively far distance, the Juggernaut leaving behind a deep trail in the mud and dirt, whilst also losing bits and bobs as its form was scraped against the half-earthy and half-concrete city street. Led straight to their den, Bob and Chase now found themselves at the entrance of what seemed to be some kind of old Federation aircraft hangar, with the doors wide open for them to enter through, however, it would naturally not be as easy as such. The place was crawling with those tribal people, many of them armed, but many more worked to carry heavy pieces of scrap metal, and techno-organic gut across the hangar. The sound of multiple blowtorches echoed from within the hangar.
"I'm guessing it's him that we ought to talk to about this whole ordeal?" Chase asked, pointing at one individual who stood in the dead center of the room. From this distance, they could only guess that he stood at the height of Bob, but he was much larger in size, sporting a much wider physique whilst also having quite the weight around his stomach and hip area. The former mercenary amused himself at the sight of this man because such well-fed people were hard to come by in a world like this, where food is scarce, and difficult to get without risking one's life.
"Mhm, definitely," Bob followed up with. "I mean look at him. Standing there in his fancy trenchcoat, and what's that, a collared shirt underneath? He's trying so hard to look like a 'businessman' with that scrappy wear he's got."
The man, whose name they had overheard was Gordon, was clearly the leader of this tribe, something few would have expected seeing as he and his fellows dressed wildly differently. There were most certainly hundreds of years between them when it came to where and when they came from in human history.
"Here's the plan. I go up to big guy over there and see if I can talk things out with him. You try your best to lay low and position yourself somewhere you can get the high ground, in case shit goes south."
"Hey, why should you be the one to go confront this bastard? We both took the same job, we should go at it together, dude." Chase protested.
Bob, who turned his head only slightly to glare at Chase through the eye holes in his helmet, answered with a confident tone of voice, "If any of us could survive a spear through a leg or an arm, it wouldn't be you."
The other survivor, shocked, and mildly offended, let his mouth hang agape at the response. Ouch. Yet another dagger to his ego.
Without wasting another second, Bob got up from their cover and had begun wandering into the well-lit hangar. Naturally, it took less than a few seconds before the men and women who were there dropped what they were doing and reached for the nearest weapon to arm themselves with. Longbows and spears, and some even carried swords. He refused to turn and face any of them, but as he let his eyes wildly wander, he came to acknowledge the fact that these people would have no trouble in piercing even his fine metal armor with their rather primitive weaponry.
His footsteps must've been amplified by the added weight of the minigun he carried on his back, as Gordon turned to look in his direction as soon as the metallic sound of his boots hitting the floor echoed throughout the building. The distant sound of buzzing and whirring ceased, as blowtorches and other mechanical tools were dropped to the floor.
"Oi, fat man," Bob called out, as he approached the leader of the tribe.
The man's bushy eyebrows lowered into a frown as he reluctantly put away the clipboard he held firmly in his hands. Blue tek lights in the ceiling had visible reflections on his bald head and his black beard let out a horrible rustling noise as he scratched it, as if it hadn't been moisturized in weeks.
"What are you guys up to, hm? Destroying all those machines and bringing them here to this... thousand-year-old wreck of a hangar."
"That is none of your business," Gordon replied in a gravely, deep voice.
"Well whatever you and your freaks are up to, I'm going to need you to shut it down and leave the premise. And I don't mean just the hangar, I mean the city."
"And who are you supposed to be!?" The large man scoffed, taking a far step in Bob's direction and coming face to face with the survivor. He pierced his helmet with an intense stare, showing no fear whatsoever. "The governor? Hah! These ruins are empty, young man. It's for anyone's taking."
The leather of the survivor's glove creaked as it rubbed against itself, his hand curling up into a fist. "I'm here on behalf of the Terran Federation. They seek to rebuild this city, and they want you out."
"Pfft, and what are they going to do about it, huh? They signed a deal, did they not? They can't lift a finger at us, and they can't force us out.."
"Don't get too confident, there. Strain their patience enough, give them a proper reason and they will eventually come for you. These cavemen won't be able to save you when megatons of tek explosives rain upon this building, and whatever you're hiding here." Bob threatened.
"Do not call them that."
Whilst the two large men butt heads on the floor below, Chase had been able to sneak his way up flights of stairs, to reach higher ground within the hangar. He had to be cautious so as to not alert the men on the same floor as he was, where they stood with bow and arrow trained at Bob in case he was to make one faulty move. Armed with only one lightweight firearm now, and an assortment of explosives, Chase was seriously out-gunned, let alone outnumbered by the foreign tribe, but so was Bob. Using slow movements to make the least amount of noise possible, he lowered his hand to his toolbelt, gently wrapping his fingers around the handle of his handgun.
Suddenly, from the bottom floor, Bob's voice called out, "What the fuck?"
Chase froze, leaning up against a piece of railing to get a good view of what was happening beneath him.
Bob dramatically leaned to one side and peered past Gordon with a horrified expression in his eyes. As a result, the heavier man instinctively turned to look behind him at whatever had caught the attention of the survivor, but that is when he failed to realize he had fallen for one of the most classic jokes in the history books. A leathery fist made swift contact with the man's face, and he recoiled back a few steps as he was delivered a kick to his stomach.
Arrows hissed as they flew through the air, one piercing the floorboard that Bob stood upon, gracing his foot. Chase had to act, and that fast. His fellow hunter had now engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Gordon, exchanging blows and throwing fists at one another, making their way further into the hangar interior. As they did, men and women hit the floor around them, as Chase maneuvered swiftly to bang them over the head with the butt of his pistol, casting them over the railings they stood by with their bows in hand. The fall couldn't have been far enough to kill them, but broken bones were expected.
Carrying the wrestle into the very back of the hangar, Gordon was able to gain the upper hand as Bob's punches seemed to be less effective when focused on his lower torso or his large and bulky legs. Grabbing the armored survivor by his wrist, he jolted him to the ground, Bob surrendering to his knees before the large man suddenly took hold of his ankle. Like a damn silverback gorilla, Gordon threw Bob like a ragdoll, hitting a fabricator with his back. To his dismay, his minigun had taken most of the blow, as the weight of Bob paired with the impact was able to bend and indent the barrel of the large firearm.
"You... You BITCH!" He shouted, as his minigun detached itself from his back and hit the metallic floor with a loud thud. As he looked back at his deformed firearm, he looked up to discover what Gordon and his adopted tribe were actually hiding in there. Blow torches and similar tools Bob didn't even know the names of littered the floor around a platform where what could only be described as a techno-organic fusion stood. The form resembled that of a sizeable theropod, standing as tall as a Giganotosaur, with the physique and body of a Carcharodontosaurus. Bloodied and a messy construction, the amalgamation had to have been made up of a dozen defense units, with a handful of Juggernauts thrown into the mix, all welded together by force and fire.
"I see you've made your eyes acquainted with the product of our hard work!" Gordon shouted, a dirt-eating grin growing across his face.
In disbelief, Bob had to take a step back. The fusion of various different URE tek machines was a horrendous sight to see, various arms and limbs stretching out from its form, its head hanging low seeing as it had yet to be powered up. Within its gaping jaw, were multiple rows of metallic teeth.
"I don't have a name for it yet... It's up for consideration. But this creation, once we finish it and breathe life into its soul, my people and I will be unstoppable. All that remains is a piece of hardware that will let me control its will."
"Power-hungry, much?"
With a powerful swing, the broken minigun was flung at Gordon. It would hit the man's arms as he raised them to protect his face, gritting his teeth and groaning as naturally, being hit by a heavy piece of metal would certainly inflict some pain on his arms.
Removing his arms, Gordon could only catch a short glimpse of Bob as his steel fist uppercut his jaw, causing the heavy man to recoil further, and as their wrestling continued on the lower floor, Chase was making his way around on the bridges above them, fighting the tribal warriors and maneuvering behind cover as to not get an arrow through his head.
Grabbed by his armor's collar, Bob was slammed into the fabricator a second time. His adrenaline finally kicking in for real, the muscular survivor rolled out of the way of Gordon's incoming fist, parrying it in the nick of time so that the large man slammed his knuckles into the machine instead. Then, he reached out and clutched the larger man's trench coat, letting out a vigorous roar as he swung him against what he didn't realize was a console before Gordon laid bent halfway over it.
"Idiot! You don't understand!" Gordon coughed, before having his head violently bashed into the console again, buttons being pressed and switches being flipped in the process. "This machine- I'm building it..." He desperately attempted to continue, despite how he has relentlessly slammed time and time again into the console. "-To protect my PEOPLE!" He growled as Bob let go of him.
The fuming survivor of the ARKs hadn't let go of him because of the words that graced his ears, but rather the sound of the console responding to its violent beating. A couple of beeps rang throughout the hangar, as a of the buttons on the table flashed.
"No... No!" Gordon winced, as Bob stepped away from him and the amalgamation of tek and organic flesh. "What have you done!"
"Chase? CHASE!" Bob called out.
From the upper floors of the hangar, another one of the tribal warriors fell, before a response was given. "I'm here!"
"Chase you need to get down here now, I think I just did something I shouldn't have!"
"What do you mean you-" He started, before being cut off by a loud crash from the floors below. His heart sank, and on his way down a flight of stairs, he leaned over a guard railing to see what was going on.
First, one large set of claws set foot on the metallic floor of the hangar, shortly followed by another set that crashed into the ground not far from where Bob stood. He gulped as he slowly looked up, his eyes soon met by the ones of the robotic fusion, blindingly red glowing, and unhinged. It wasn't just a set of two eyes, no, there were countless of them, numerous eyes that belonged to a variety of different tek machines that had all been grotesquely welded together into one AI lifeform.
"No fucking way," Chase said under his breath before throwing himself over the fence he stood by, opting to slide his way down to the ground to get there even faster. "BARRY! Come here!"
Heeding to the command of his owner, the Baryonyx soon emerged from the overgrowth beyond the hangar bay, running into the dimly lit building to accompany his human friend, however, he soon stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes rested upon the large mechanical monster that was clawing itself free from its restraints deeper inside the building.
"Woah there... Come on. Don't worry, I've got you. We'll be in this together, okay?" Chase affirmed his companion, raising both his palms to it, before planting them gently on the side of the creature.
"Any idea of how we'll destroy that thing?" The former mercenary asked as he approached Bob on his Baryonyx.
Before he could answer Chase, they were both cut off by the loud coughing that could be heard through the mechanical howling of the mutant machine. Gordon was back up on his feet, and he had reached a cabinet that he tore from the wall, spilling its contents out.
"Another one!?" He hissed, wiping away the blood that ran down his face. "I don't know who you are... And you have the gut to waltz in here, harm me and my folk-"
Barry and the two survivors watched on as Gordon got down on his knees, digging in the pile of various tek scrap before pulling out from it what appeared to be a large prototype of some kind of railgun. "But I won't let you take my masterpiece from me!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, aiming the railgun at the survivors.
Casting themselves to contrasting sides, the survivors and their theropod companion were able to get out of the way before a beam of light flew past their heads.
By now, Gordon's so-called masterpiece had already begun turning on its creators, tearing apart the hangar from within in an attempt to reach the primitive tribals that scurried like rats all around it. Without its final piece of hardware, no one could control it, nor even Gordon and his tribe. Some of the poor souls would end up crushed and turned into a pile of guts as the fusion machine's foot crashed down on them, whilst the most unfortunate would end up torn to pieces in its jaws, spewed out as unrecognizable piles of gore and blood. Panic and chaos erupted within the building as the Carcharodontosaurus-resembling monstrosity went haywire.
"See if you can find any weak spots on that fucked up-looking thing, and stay out of its way! Let it go after his goons!"
"But what the fuck's the plan here? How do we go about taking down the big-robo-freak!?"
"That tek railgun he's got. I'm gonna see if I can 'lend' that from mister Gordo, and we'll fight fire with fire!"
Holding tightly onto his ride's saddle reins, Chase nodded to himself. "Alright, good idea."
Then he paused for a moment, as Bob bolted in Gordon's direction, the sound of the railgun charging up following soon after.
"Wait... Gordo's Spanish for fa... Did you just hit him with an overweight insult!?"
Bob did not respond, but from what experience Chase had with the easily-humored man, he knew that he was snickering beneath that metal helmet.
The tek railgun must've been fired at least three times to no avail before Bob was able to reach his foe once again, grabbing hold of the firearm to push its aim away from himself, before socking Gordon right in the face with another fist. The large man shook his head as he wiped the blood from his lip with one hand, staining his palm before suddenly, something he didn't see coming took him by surprise.
Bob, who had grabbed firmly onto a piece of tek metal, with all his might swung it at Gordon, bashing his face in and sending the large man stumbling and tripping on his own steps before falling flat on his back, hitting his head on another piece of scrap metal. He went completely unresponsive.
"Ah." Bob sighed. "That worked WAY better than I had anticipated!"
The man gleefully dropped the piece of metal he held, before kneeling down and yanking the prototype of a weapon Gordon clutched in his hand. "Yooo! This thing is quite fucking neat, man!"
His moment of awe and admiration for the weapon quickly ceased as Chase called out his name, knocking Bob out of the moment that had captured him as he planted his hands on the sleek and beautiful tool of destruction.
"I think I see some kind of power core!" Chase exclaimed, waving his arms from a far distance, signaling to the other survivor at the head of the mechanical monstrosity.
The narrow view that the survivor in flak armor had of his dino-riding buddy was completely obstructed as the large leg of the fusion machine crashed into the ground between them. Chase had finally managed to gain its attention, as he now realized that all of Gordon's men had either been turned to mush, or laid dying on the ground somewhere on the flooring of the tek hangar.
As the machine's tail swiped by Bob and the unconscious Gordon, the survivor had a brilliant idea come to mind, one that would be risky, but one he didn't hesitate to go with.
Running toward its tail, Bob hugged tightly around his new toy with one arm as he embraced himself for impact, the metal-covered tail slamming right into him. The mechanical beast failed to notice that the survivor had wrapped his other arm around its tail, hanging on tightly before he was flung into the air. Chase, watching his teammate fly through the air, almost gracing the ceiling of the building, was completely astonished at what he was seeing. However, he and Barry had to get a move on, as their soulless and murderous adversary now had their sights locked on the two of them.
Bob proceeded to hit the back of the machine with a bang, and he had to use all the strength he had in one arm to keep himself from falling off of it. With what footing he could get on the various pieces of metal on the beast's body, he was able to climb onto its back and ride it like a rodeo.
Then, without warning, the machine gave chase after the second survivor and his companion, and in the blink of an eye, they turned around and bolted out of the hangar. Trying to escape the pursuing murder robot would be nearly impossible, and Chase recognized that their best bet would be to play their cards wisely and rely on risky maneuvers to avoid their impending doom.
"GO, Barry, GO!!!" Chase shouted as he pulled and whipped at the saddle reins, Barry responding and maneuvering as per his rider's wishes, his little legs giving everything they could to flee the much larger theropod-resembling machine. They did not last long before their futile escape came to an abrupt end, as the machine stopped dead in its tracks and lowered its head, it unhinged its saw-filled jaw and from it, a massive burst of blue-glowing tek energy erupted. It spewed the blazing hot fire all over the surrounding area, setting fire to nearby flora and overgrowth.
Barry's tail had been hit by the beam of light, sending him and his rider collapsing to the ground. The Baryonyx whimpered and winced at the burning sensation that had hit it so violently, and Chase was horrified to crawl over and see the large burn mark that had been seared into his tame's skin, all of his scales in that specific area completely toasted to a crisp.
Chase panicked badly, to the point he was unable to utter a single word. His fear amplified and grew oh so overpowering as the threat that sought to end them grew closer. His eyes were now met by the many eyes of the organic tek machine, as it slowly approached him and his downed companion. But that is when to the rescue, came Bob himself. From behind the monstrous machine's head, he emerged and climbed his way onto its skull, holding on tightly as he with one hand aimed the prototype railgun at the scalp of the vicious machine.
"TAKE THIS, YOU CUNT!"
For a moment, the weapon seemed to charge up, the sound of whirring growing progressively louder over the course of a few seconds before... BLAM!!!
The blue lights on the prototype shone with immense power as Bob refused to let go of the trigger, overloading the device before it let out a loud roar, firing a beam of blinding light directly through the head of the machine.
Chase shouted as the bright light hit his eyes directly, blinding him despite his attempts to cover up his face using his arms.
The machine squealed and cried out as megatons of heat were blasted right through its power core, and it vigorously shook its body to try to get the survivor off of it but to no avail. Its head, having sustained heavy damage with a massive hole going directly through it, shattered and exploded into a dozen pieces that flew off at the speed of bullets, some lodging themselves into the nearby buildings while some disappeared deep into the city ruins. At last, with a stumble or two, the amalgamation of tek and organic material collapsed to the ground, missing its head.
And there they stood, beneath the broad daylight, taking in the peace that remained as the machine's life left its broken body. From its corpse slid Bob down, with a concerning amount of his armor scorched to a dark gray, but for the most part seemingly fine. The same could not be said for the prototype railgun he had used, as it had completely blown itself open, appearing more like a peeled banana by the time Bob let go of it and dropped it in the grass below his feet.
"You alright there?" The man asked as he approached Chase from the steaming hot carcass of the machine, picking at his own scorched armor pieces.
"How in the hell are you still able to see- Like Jesus Christ!" Chase said, as he tore his helmet off of his head and rubbed his eyes with great force.
"Hah! You'll be fine." And without asking for consent, he pulled Chase from the ground as he had done earlier, getting the former mercenary back up on his feet. "Hey. You did good work with those tribal guys. Props to you for not jumping the gun and just killing them, too. Might help your conscience to know that the machine thing is to blame for the final blow to those poor bastards."
His vision still messed up badly, Chase was barely able to make out Bob's fist being raised to him, and with a weak arm, he lifted his own and the two performed a fist bump of appreciation that they had come out alive from the situation. However, it seemed they weren't done quite yet, as a third voice emerged from the hangar they now stood outside.
Gordon groaned and growled as he limped out of the dark building, leaning his weight on one of the many metal crates that littered the outside area. "Aargh... My masterpiece... You monsters!"
Bob turned around, frowning from under his helmet. As if to shield Chase and his face now revealed by not wearing his own headgear, the larger survivor stood tall and mighty before his fellow hunter, hiding the man behind himself.
"My people are dead because of you... All I wanted was to provide them with a tool that would PROTECT them! Keep them safe from what's out there."
"Sure. Then there'd only be a matter of time before you'd decide to use it for bad deeds. Raiding other survivors, other settlements!" Bob responded sternly. "Leave this place immediately. I don't want to have to kill someone today."
Gordon gritted his teeth, hissing in pain as he continued to limp away from the hangar.
"You have no idea of what's going on out there... Settlements have been disappearing overnight, and tribes have vanished without as much of a trace. I've seen it happen with my own two eyes!" ... For a moment, the man paused, the tension growing between the three who remained still breathing after the events that had unfolded mere minutes before.
"Satan himself is coming for us all. There's only a matter of time before we're next."
And with that, the large man turned away from the two survivors, limping and stumbling away on two weak legs that could barely lift his weight. For what felt like a solid minute or two, the survivors stared in his direction as he continued on his way, not turning to look back at the two who had sabotaged him and his folks.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Chase stepped back and leaned onto Barry, who had now also gotten back up on his legs. "I'm starting to question if we did the right thing."
"We did," Bob said, without even turning to face the man. "This was the job we signed up for. Things could've been worse if we let them finish up and leave with that thing. And you already know how the Federation, shit- How the chosen survivor feels about tek potentially ending up in the wrong hands. We can't risk that."
Tension finally eased in Bob's body, as his large shoulders were lowered and he visibly relaxed his stance. "I mean, you already saw the Feds confiscate the tek equipment you guys had lent after the siege on the Mount Bracken institution."
"Fair enough," Chase coughed. "Me and my old group, we always lived by the saying, 'To do some good, we have to do some bad'."
"True, buddy." Bob nodded.
"Very true."
_________________________________________________________________________
"Good work, Chase Morrington.", The Federation sergeant praised, as he took the hand of the former mercenary and exchanged a firm handshake. "What you did out there has and will save the Federation an immense headache."
"Just doing my job." He smiled in return. "So when will we be talking payment?"
"Well... As soon as we've got this part of the city in a somewhat better shape and form, and we've settled our own folks into homes that are... comfortable, and reminiscent of what their past generations once had."
"How long do you reckon that will take?"
"Not too long. We'll be working to expand our territory within the city limits, now that we're free to conduct technological warfare against the derelict autonomous military force with that group of survivors out of the ruins... Once all is said and done, we'll be sure to close off a piece of land for you out in the surrounding fields. It'll keep you at a comfortable walking distance from the city, whilst giving you the freedom to build your own living space."
"Amazing."
Walking over to his Baryonyx, Chase picked up the leash and prepared to make his way out of the city ruins that were now teeming with life, both from the Federation armed forces and highly advanced machines of their own. Towering workhorses made of metal and circuitry wandered the streets, some ridden by people in shining silver armor.
"And hey, if there's anything you need, or you've got any more questions- Ask one of my boys. They'll point you in my direction." Cole said, nodding farewell to the survivor.
"Thank you, Novak." He groaned as he hauled himself onto the back of Barry, with his sights set on the nearby gateway that must've stretched a hundred feet up into the sky. Beyond it, he could see the horizon, mountains in the far distance, trees being blown and dancing in the wind as the sun began to set in the cloudless sky above.
Chase again, smiled to himself as he gently pulled at the saddle reins, grateful that the job had been done and done well. But he couldn't have done it without the help of Bob, someone that at the end of the day, despite how much his ego was challenged by this intimidating man, he was grateful to have met, and gotten to know just a tad bit better on their travels together within the ruins of Nova. Bob had already left the premise of the city before they had arrived back in the parts where the Federation was residing, claiming that whatever price they might've had to offer him, was out of his interest. They had bid one another farewell, but even hours later, Chase came to wonder when the next time he would meet that weird survivor was.
A question for another day, he figured, as he and Barry finally passed the gates of Nova, leaving behind the crowded domain of the Terran Federation. The walk back to his temporary lodging in The Great Settlement would be far, with multiple mountain ranges and many more miles separating the region where Nova resided, and the one where the more primitive civilization had settled down, but Chase was content on enjoying the ride there, alongside his trusty tame whom he was grateful to still have by his side, despite the dangers they had faced.
"C'mon Barry, Let's go. I'm sure Mary will be ecstatic to hear that she'll be able to leave her old house in the great settlement, to see some more sights this new world has to offer her.", Chase said as he leaned forwards to gently stroke his palm across the head of his companion, who in response let out a satisfied groan. He looked forward to seeing the face of his love, once he'd given her the good news he had in store.